Marty91charmed
Majesty
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 6,066
- City
- Near Verona and Venice
- Country
- Italy
That's a slap in the face for those who used to criticize Daniel because he didn't speak english ;-)
On a side note, apparently William and Kate don't speak French.
Just curious. Did either of them take second-language courses in college? Are they mandatory in the U.K.?
Personally I think is a disgrace they cannot speak French...
If I were HMQ I would INSIST they learn it, and get competent at it PDQ...
Personally I think is a disgrace they cannot speak French...
If I were HMQ I would INSIST they learn it, and get competent at it PDQ...
Frankly i'm quite surprised they don't. The Queen, the DOE, Charles and Camilla are all fluent in French. I guess it's a generation thing ...
I agree. I read that William learnt French at school but a lot of students study languages here in England so it wouldn't surprise me if Catherine did the same. He's probably forgotten most of what he learnt as it was a long time since he last participated in a French lesson. It would have been nice of William and or Catherine to learn a bit more French so they could perform a speech, as, like you have pointed out, a few members of the royal family are fluent in French. I disagree that it's disgraceful, as that's a bit of an OTT statement to me, but I do just think it's respectful towards the other country to speak their language or have a basic understanding of it when visiting on an official occasion.
Imagine all of the languages the royals would need a basic understanding of!
I do think, for anyone, when traveling you should know key phrases, but I wouldn't go as far as to say a basic understanding. Unless you're going for a long time, i.e., more than a couple of weeks and intend to immerse yourself in the culture (i.e. not a royal visit).
as for The Queen, Philip, Charles, & Camilla being fluent, I've heard all sorts about that not being true. As I don't speak a lick of french, I won't comment.
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Why the smiley? My post wasn't meant to be amusing and I did agree with you at the end. By basic understanding I meant key phrases. I guess I should have been more clear, then but I thought that's what some would have assumed I was referring to
There's a big difference between basic understanding and key phrases. Basic understanding, but my understanding of language tiers, is being able to hold something of a convo, though maybe in broken sentences. Key phrases is simply key phrases with little fluency in how it's spoken. Basic understanding is what I have of Spanish (though I would undoubtedly trip over myself trying to speak to someone), but key phrases is what I've got for Danish and Swedish. I can say hello, how are you, but can't muster much more than that.
I don't speak a lick of french, so I won't comment.
I'll leave that for the actual French-speaking people in this community.
I don't speak a lick of french, so I won't comment.
I'll leave that for the actual French-speaking people in this community.
I think it's a waste of their time learning French. Not many of their future subjects speak French. I suspect more speak Hindi than French.Personally I think is a disgrace they cannot speak French...
If I were HMQ I would INSIST they learn it, and get competent at it PDQ...
You just asserted that some senior members of BRF were presumably not fluent in French.
As a native French speaker, i just proved that it was probably not true.
You're welcome.
I think it's a waste of their time learning French. Not many of their future subjects speak French. I suspect more speak Hindi than French.
As an American who lived in France for a bit and speaks French, I would say, after listening to the queen, Charles and Camilla,,that only the queen seems to be facile with the language. Charles has a pretty bad accent, and Camilla,s is really like a caricature of an English speaker speaking French.